Laser welding is currently used to carry out robotic welding. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-177862 discloses an example of such a welding technique, wherein a laser irradiating device is installed at a tip of a robotic arm (i.e., a manipulator) for irradiating a laser beam. The robotic arm is moved while changing an irradiating direction of the laser beam emitted from the laser irradiating device such that a predetermined welding point is welded by moving the laser beam. Such type of welding is referred to as remote welding since an object to be welded (work piece) is spaced apart from the laser irradiating device.
In such remote welding, a moving speed of the laser irradiating device at the tip of the robotic arm is acquired at a test-run for instructing a motion path of the robot during preparation.